Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid dunks during the second half of the team's NBA basketball game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Saturday, Jan. 20, 2018, in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 116-94. (AP Photo/Chris Szagola)

PHILADELPHIA >> The 76ers reached the halfway point of their season, and Brett Brown had his choice of reactions.

He could have celebrated a record above .500.

He could have lamented a virtual collision with mediocrity.

He settled for an exhale.

It could have been worse. Much worse.

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“I look back at the game we lost in Portland,” he said, referencing a trip west Dec. 28. “We had a lead. We lost the game. And I had a gut feel. It was a defining moment. What are we going to do now?”

That four-point loss was the Sixers’ sixth in seven games, a sloppy, deflating mess too typical of what had been a choppy season. It left them at 15-19, and it had their critics connecting it all to the four previous seasons, the ones with all that tanking. But they would play two nights later and triumph in Denver, then dump the Suns by 13 in Phoenix in a spurt where they would win five of six.

Ever since, including Saturday when they outperformed the Milwaukee Bucks, 116-94, the Sixers have looked like what they were supposed to be, back when all that trusting began.

They are healthy, or at least relatively so by January, NBA standards. They are defending with close to a postseason passion. They are sharing the ball. Joel Embiid is playing without restriction. Ben Simmons is irritating opposing veterans with his unique style. Brown’s team has won its last three, and seven of its last eight.

“We weren’t really entirely healthy,” Brown said. “Jo was very sporadic, leading that comment that we weren’t healthy. Previously, we were without Cov (Robert Covington) and Dario (Saric) and T.J. (McConnell) and so on. And we talked to the team. We said, ‘We have to do something in Denver.’ We needed to find a place where we could stay together, get some help and try to get in a position to reclaim January.”

The Sixers won 10 games last January, or exactly as many as they’d won the entire previous season. They were starting to make sense. Their fans were starting to make noise. But then Embiid injured his knee, the season disintegrated, and there they would be, as Brown’s fifth season began, desperate to win more than sympathy.

The Sixers won Saturday for the fifth time in six games this month. That makes them 15-6 in January over in the last two seasons, just in case any conversation should spin toward insignificant pro-sports trends. But they are 22-20 for the significant season, good for a 45-victory pace, which would be good enough for the playoffs. And that makes what they’ve accomplished in just over half a season meaningful.

It hasn’t just been a good month.

It’s turned into a productive season.

“We’re definitely happy,” Covington said, after a plus-28, 13-point effort. “We’re starting to figure this thing out. We could have had a lot more games. But it is just a good feeling to know that you are finally out of that rough patch and starting to put games away. That’s what we need.”

It’s early. But, as Brown knows, it’s not that early. That’s why he all but dragged a copy of the standings through the room before the game, reminding his players that it would be a good idea to drop the Bucks to 23-22, given what soon could be a frantic Eastern Conference playoff race.

“He mentioned that we could be sixth if we won this game,” said Simmons, who provided 16 points, each one entertaining. “So it was a big game for us. We really wanted to be in that position. And we did a good job of closing it out.”

The Sixers won the fourth quarter, 32-14, denying the Bucks many, if any, fortunate looks. That made them 1-0 in the second half of a season that could be tense in a hurry.

“To look back then, and to look where we are, our defense, when healthy, has been really good,” Brown said. “And it has held us in good shape as we are navigating some offensive concerns and ups and downs and things we have to do better. So I like our defense.”

Offensively, McConnell is starting to contribute more heavily. But the Sixers will need the broken bone in J.J. Redick’s leg to heal if they expect to survive a pennant race.

“I hope to grow parts of our offense, get tight with our simple, little package,” Brown said. “We’re starting to see Joel have a more fluid style of play. Just watch him move up and down the floor. It’s fluid. He’s passing out of the post. Our defense and staying together.”

Even if the Bucks were without Giannis Antetokounmpo and Malcolm Brogdon, the Sixers took control early Saturday and emphasized it late. It’s how playoff teams behave.

“Look at where we were on December 28th, at 15-and-19,” Brown said. “And look where we are now. That’s some good stuff going on since then.”

Contact Jack McCaffery at jmccaffery@21st-centurymedia.com; follow him on Twitter @JackMcCaffery.